The Australian wool market has another volatile week, again experiencing significant upward and downward movements within the series. On the opening day, strong widespread competition helped to push prices higher, across all merino types and descriptions. The individual Micron Price Guides (MPGs) across the country added between 89 and 133 cents for the day. On the back of these solid increases, the AWEX Eastern Market Indicator (EMI) rose by 85 cents, this equated to a 7.5% rise. The increased price levels reached on the first day, could not be maintained through the second. Buyer sentiment noticeably softened and as a result prices dropped. By the end of the second day the MPGs in all three centres had lost between 30 and 79 cents. The EMI fell by 35 cents for the day. Despite the second day losses, the merino fleece market still recorded overall solid rises for the week, this was reflected in the EMI which added 50 cents for the series, closing the week at 1,188 cents. The current volatility in the market is highlighted by the movement in the EMI over the previous 10 selling days. Over this period the EMI has moved a total of 466 cents, this is an average movement of nearly 47 cents per auction day. The merino skirtings followed a very similar path to the fleece. Large price increases of between 80 and 140 cents on the first selling day, followed by losses of between 10 and 50 cents on the second. The oddments were the only sector to record overall losses for the series, the three merino carding indicators dropped by an average of 19 cents. The overall price rises for the series have encouraged more sellers to the market, resulting in an increase in next week’s national offering. Currently, there is 41,9969 bales available to the trade in Sydney, Melbourne and Fremantle.